CANT REST UNTIL I KNOW!!!!!

Jan 13, 2002

Please help me understand!

I am the person that sent a question earlier about my test results. Went to the blood bank to donate for my surgery two times and both time were only a week apart. the lab results showed that I was hbsag neg but hbc antibody pos. Got nervous went to reg Doc and he did a anti hbs test that came out neg. I read on the net that there are different determinations to those results (could be carrier or may not be). I started to worry more than tummy started to hurt went to ER and told them about results they did a liver function test that was normal but said carriers can have normal liver function test go to a gi Doc. I went to one GI Doc and he said don't worry you don't have hep b. Subsequently, went to another GI for 2nd opinion and he said let me do more test because your results indicate a gray area and can't give me difinitive answers unitl he look at new test. His test were as follows hbsag-neg, hbe antibody-neg,hbe antigen-neg, and hbvdna(still waiting on). What could this mean so far???
By the way my hubby donated the last unit of blood for my surgery and his hbsag and anti hbc was neg? In the past he said he only had the 1st shot of the vacine never went back for the other 2. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Response from Dr. Fried

If you are negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) then you are not a carrier of hepatitis B. The positive hep B core antibody could be a false positive or could indicate you were exposed to HBV in the past and cleared it. Not everyone develops detectable anti-HBs even if they cleared the infection. Also, some people only develop it for a short time. In any case, negative for HBs antigen indicates that you are not currently infected.

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